Alyssa Farah, Vice President Mike Pence’s spokesperson, is departing the White House and headed to the Pentagon.
Farah, 30, will join the Pentagon as a press secretary and a deputy assistant to the defense secretary for media, the Washington Post first reported Wednesday morning. Farah confirmed she was departing the White House Wednesday morning on her personal Twitter account.
During Farah’s nearly two-year tenure at the White House, she has served as a press secretary for Pence and also served as his communications director for the past six months.
Farah also served as a senior adviser to Pence, and has traveled with him to dozens of military bases. She regularly worked with the National Security Council, Defense Department, and CIA staff while she worked for Pence, and attended many events including the 2019 Munich Security Conference as part of the official U.S. delegation.
Nick Ayes, who previously served as Pence’s chief of staff, said he expects Farah’s responsibilities at the Pentagon will extend beyond working with the press.
“If they are smart, and I suspect they are, she’ll be empowered to be a strategic thinker and doer, which will help them see around the Washington corners that often create unnecessary friction between the Pentagon, Congress and the White House,” Ayers told the Post.
Farah’s move comes after the Pentagon has attracted scrutiny for infrequent press briefings under the Trump administration. Meanwhile, Farah told the Post she intents to schedule press briefings regularly.
The chief spokesperson for the Pentagon, Jonathan Hoffman, said Farah is a natural fit for the role at the Pentagon and will promote Secretary of Defense Mark Esper’s vision for interaction with the media.
“Her experience working for the vice president on a range of issues — including national security and national defense issues — will transition well to the department as our press secretary and reinforce the secretary’s commitment to press engagement,” Hoffman said in a statement, per the Post.
Before joining Pence’s team at the White House, Farah worked on Capitol Hill as a spokesperson for the House Freedom Caucus and as a communications director for Rep. Mark Meadows, a Republican from North Carolina.
